AfriLabs was founded in 2011 to build a community around rapidly emerging tech hubs―innovation spaces that serve as meeting points and communities for developers, entrepreneurs, and investors.
We believe that supporting the development of the African technology and innovation ecosystem enables Africa to participate in the global knowledge and innovation market place thereby stimulating economic growth.
AfriLabs connects African tech hubs because we believe that if they learn from one another, they will serve their communities better, by creating platforms for our members to communicate, share knowledge, and collaborate.
African tech hubs need resources to support start-ups. AfriLabs builds capacity of hub management teams, to help them identify sustainable revenue streams and their business models. This has been done so far through the AfriLabs Hubs Learning week for Hub Managers which was launched in August 2017, sponsored by Making All Voices Count (MAVC). AfriLabs also partnered with Microsoft 4Afrika to organize a free training for startups on the Microsoft Azure and Bizpark platforms in Lagos, Nigeria in 2017.
As a network, AfriLabs has a handful of core competencies—things we do really well. But we can maximize our impact by partnering with others who are committed to fostering African tech, entrepreneurship and innovation. For example, AfriLabs has organized the AfriLabs Annual Gathering for 2 years running now with partners like Making All Voices Count (MAVC), Microsoft 4Afrika, Facebook, Hivos etc. AfriLabs has also organized ecosystem events like the 1% Club ‘Supersize The Valley’ Conference and the Swedish Program for ICT in Developing Regions (SPIDER) ICT4SI West Africa Workshop in 2017.
Our mission is to support innovation hubs and their communities to raise high potential entrepreneurs that will stimulate economic growth and social development in Africa. We achieve this through capacity building, financing, networking, policy advocacy, and providing insightful, reliable data .
Our vision is a thriving innovation economy in Africa, driven by the power of our community.
AfriLabs was founded with 5 Hubs. NaiLab Kenya, iHub Kenya, Hive Colab Uganda,Banta Labs Senegal, Activ Spaces Cameroun.
AfriLabs Partnered with Hivos & Indigo Trust.
AfriLabs hired its first Executive Director.
AfriLabs was formally registered as a foundation.
AfriLabs got involved with the World Bank InfoDev Virtual Incubation project.
AfriLabs partnered with Microsoft 4Afrika and The Rockefeller foundation.
AfriLabs had its first global meet-up in Berlin supported by Global Innovation Gathering.
AfriLabs held its 2nd global meetup in Berlin.
AfriLabs collaborated with The Rockefeller Foundation to launch a Digital jobs challenge.
AfriLabs hosted the Hub sustainability series with AfriHive.
AfriLabs held its first African meetup in Egypt.
AfriLabs website was created and branding was carried out.
AfriLabs launched a partnership with OSIWA to explore Hubs as creative spaces.
AfriLabs set up its first secretariat in Abuja, Nigeria headed by Anna Ekeledo.
AfriLabs set up its first secretariat in Abuja, Nigeria headed by Anna Ekeledo.
AfriLabs launched a series of regional city meet ups in Nairobi, Lagos, Cairo, Johannesburg and Senegal.
MAVC partnership (AfriLabs Annual Gathering, Organizational support, Learning platform, City meet ups in Dakar, Johannesburg, Cairo, Lagos and Nairobi).
AfriLabs had its first African Annual Gathering, which took place in Accra, Ghana.
AfriLabs held its first virtual board elections in March 2017
AfriLabs held its first Hubs Learning Week in August, sponsored by MAVC.
The 2017 Annual Gathering took place in Cairo, Egypt hosted by The District and co-organized by Hivos and AfriLabs.
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